Starcrossed

asked, desperate for any explanation.
    “There’s this rumor that Lucas and Hector are fighting over you, so of course all the girls hate you now,” Claire said like she hoped the rumor was ridiculous, but wasn’t entirely sure if it was.
    “You’re joking, right?”
    Claire shook her head. “I guess Lucas and Hector got into an actual fistfight after school yesterday at football practice. That’s why they weren’t in school today. They got suspended.”
    “What happened?” Helen asked, stunned quiet.
    “Lucas saw Hector following you out of the girl’s locker room and he lost it. He started yelling at Hector to stay away from you. I guess Lucas sort of said . . . that you were his,” Claire said timidly. Helen shook her head. Lucas had meant that Helen was his to kill, but she couldn’t exactly explain that to Claire.
    “All the girls hate me because Lucas is a delusional stalker? How is that fair? I loathe him,” Helen said passionately. She paused. Another thought occurred to her. “But that only explains the girls hating me. There’s more, right?”
    “Oh, yeah. It gets way worse, because they didn’t just get suspended,” Claire continued, her brow scrunched with worry. “Zach said that Hector and Lucas went at it in this really scary way, right there in front of the whole football team, the coaches, everyone. It was bad. Like death-match bad. Jason got in between them and managed to break it up, but it was still too late. And . . . well . . . they all got kicked off the football team. That’s why the whole school hates you, including the boys,” she said, bringing the story to its conclusion. “All three of the Delos boys are supposed to be these amazing, legendary athletes, and everyone is saying you destroyed Nantucket High’s one shot at a winning season.”
    “You have got to be kidding me,” Helen said slowly. “They’re ruining my life.” Even in the depths of her self-pity, it didn’t escape her notice that she was also ruining their lives.
    They had been in town for two weeks and all three boys were already singled out as disciplinary problems. If these incidents kept happening, they could get kicked out of school, and then where would they go? They would have to commute to the mainland every morning because there was only one high school on the island. And all this—the fight, the suspension, the entire school trying to trip Helen—had happened after they all agreed to try to get along.
    A terrible truth was starting to sink in. Even if she got control over her anger and the Delos family got control over theirs, the Furies would not allow them to coexist. The fight between Lucas and Hector proved that the Delos kids would have to come after her or they would start going after each other. There was no live-and-let-live solution to this. For some reason that Helen still could not fathom, the Furies demanded blood, and they would get it no matter how it was shed.
    “You’re really not seeing Lucas?” Claire asked with care. Helen snapped out of her morose reverie.
    “ Seeing him? Every time I look at him I want to tear my eyes out,” Helen replied honestly.
    “There! Right there! That’s what I don’t get,” Claire exclaimed. “You have never hated anyone before, not even Gretchen, who’s been nasty to you since fifth grade. You just walked away from her like it was nothing, and you used to be just as close to her as you were to me. But this thing with you and Lucas? It’s eating you up! You have been so angry since he moved here. I don’t understand it at all. It’s like the only explanation that makes sense is what everyone’s been saying.” Claire stopped herself abruptly.
    “What is everyone saying?” Helen asked, pulling up short. They had been jogging at a slow pace to begin with, but Helen needed to get a straight answer. She forced Claire to stop and look at her. “What are they saying?” she repeated. Claire sighed and got it over with.
    “That you and Lucas met randomly on the beach right before school started and slept together. Then he lied to you and said he was just on vacation so he wouldn’t have to call you. That’s why you flipped out when you saw him in the hallway, because he used you and you were in love with him.”
    “Wow. That’s pretty dramatic,” Helen said, feeling detached.
    “Yeah, but is it true?” Claire said, her eyes pleading. Helen sighed and put her arm around Claire, leading her to a walk.
    “First